A group of rare early works by influential modernist artist
Roy de Maistre
is of special interest at the Sotheby’s Australia art sale later this month. De Maistre, born in 1894 in Bowral, NSW, the son of a racehorse trainer, lived much of his life in London. Trained as a musician as well as a painter, he turned early to impressionism, abstractionism and cubism – which was reflected in his later figurative paintings.

The de Maistre works on offer are from the estate of the late Jan Altmann who, with her husband John, was an early and perceptive collector of art, silver, rare books, and even prestige cars.

The Sotheby’s offering, in Melbourne on November 26, is part of a feast of art that goes under the auction hammer this month. Deutscher and Hackett has twin sales of Australian and Aboriginal art the following day, also in Melbourne. Bonhams has a big art sale in Sydney on November 25 as part of its usual end-of-year auction round of decorative and Asian art, Australian art and jewellery.

Bonhams also has a large stand-alone sale of Aboriginal bark paintings and sculpture from the collection of prominent QC,
Clive Evatt
.

The de Maistre works at Sotheby’s Australia include an early homage to cubism,The Footballers – a sporting theme that the expatriate artist began developing in the 1930s. It carries an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000.

Seminal works

Another seminal work is Portrait of Francis Bacon (estimate $40,000 to $60,000), a baby-faced rendition of the man with whom de Maistre had a close relationship in London from the 1930s and whom he helped transform from house painter into a leading, and controversial, figure in British art.

De Maistre’s Jacob Wrestling the Angel from 1958 ($40,000 to $50,000) reflects the artist’s fascination with Christian themes – he embraced the Catholic faith and was baptised in 1949.

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The Altmanns were widely known for their upmarket Altmann and Cherny jewellery outlets in top hotels, specialising in opals. But from the 1960s, as well as collecting art, the much-travelled pair bought Australian silver. They collected with fervour and in depth – and in the 1980s gifted their collection of more than 80 silver pieces to the National Gallery of Victoria, where it takes pride of place among the 19th century silver.

At the time, such colonial curiosities as silver-mounted emu eggs and renditions of spear-toting Aboriginals were little admired and could often be found languishing in dealers’ back rooms.

One of their piece, a silver inkwell by Henry Steiner, is on loan from the NGV to the big “Australia" exhibition at London’s Royal Academy.

Sotheby’s Australia chairman Geoffrey Smith, who knew the Altmanns well, explains their wide span of interests: “In a way it was about what was avant-garde at the time – they went in their own direction."

Jan, he says, “was a rigorous person, very frank, interested in visual arts, performing arts, opera and ballet up until her death". When John died some years ago she decided to downsize, selling her house in Toorak – but then went on to design three new homes, spurred by her keen interest in architecture.

Other consignments from the estate

Other consignments from the ­Altmann estate include tapestries by
Brett Whiteley
and
John Perceval
.

The 60-lot sale also includes
Arthur Boyd
’s 1944 painting Hunter III (The Lost Hunter), a Brett Whiteley landscape, The Valley at Dusk, and an
Arthur Streeton
Venice scene from 1908, Evening, Venice.

Bonhams’ 119-lot sale is headed by Brett Whiteley’s Sloping up on the Olgas (I) (with Crow), a mixed-media work dating from 1983-85 (estimate $700,000 to $900,000), and
Fred Williams
’s Summer Snow at Perisher ($600,000 to $800,000). There’s also another fine Streeton Venice scene, The Palace of the Doges, circa 1906, at $200,000 to $300,000.

The sale kicks off with no fewer than seven works by
Ethel Spowers
, including the painting The Gust of Wind ($20,000 to $30,000), a work in oil which is perhaps a study for the print of the same name.

Highlights of the Evatt sale, comprising more than 300 pieces, include
Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek
’s Mimih Spirits Dancing, from 1981, and
Declan Apuatimi
’s Tiwi Ancestral Totem Pole, both with estimates of $8000 to $12,000.

Deutscher and Hackett’s 132-lot sale also offers a Whiteley, To Repeat Without Repeating, a swirling sea-inspired study from 1973 complete with inset seashell (estimate $250,000 to $350,000), and two William Robinson oils including the 1.9-metre-wide Birkdale Farm ($200,000 to $250,000). It also offers two Ian Fairweather pictures, including Portrait from 1939 ($80,000 to $120,000), myriad
James Gleesons
and a brace of subtle landscapes by South Australia’s
Horace Trenerry
.